


Saved

by Servena



Category: Titanic (1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dead People, F/M, Fix-It, Hypothermia, Rescue, Shipwrecks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 18:59:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15978446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: When she first heard the voice, it came from far away and she was sure she was imagining it.





	Saved

When she first heard the voice, it came from far away and she was sure she was imagining it. It had become quiet around her, the screams for help fading as time ran out for those drifting in the cold sea until there was nothing but the sound of the water lapping at debris and bodies.

But then she heard it again, and again, and she lifted her head to listen. The voice grew louder as it got closer, and soon she could make out words: “Helloo? Is anybody alive out heere? Helloo?”

And then she saw it, the beam of a flashlight moving over the water, illuminating pieces of the wreck and the dead faces of those around her, and behind it the shadow of a boat.

Her body had grown numb from the cold and her lips moved silently for a moment before she managed to speak. “Jack?” she whispered. “Jack.”

When he didn’t answer, she turned from her side onto her stomach so that she could face him. The sight made her gasp. His face was pale and his eyes were closed, ice crystals were clinging to his eyelashes. He was still holding her hand, but it felt cold even to her own freezing skin. He wasn’t moving.

The thought cut through her like a knife. “Jack.” She reached for his arm and shook it with rising panic. “Jack, wake up. Jack. Don’t leave me, Jack.”

But just as she felt her throat constrict with inevitable tears, she saw it: A shallow breath that condensed to a white cloud in the freezing air. She laughed, but it sounded more like a strangled sob.

And then he finally opened his eyes to look at her. His lips had turned from blue to white and it took a few attempts until he managed to speak. “Rose?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

She gripped his arm tighter. “There’s a boat, Jack. There’s a boat.” Her smile felt strange on her numb face. “We’re saved.”

“Saved?” He followed her gaze to the boat that was moving through the wreckage and searching for signs of life. It hadn’t noticed them yet.

“We’re here!” Rose tried to shout, “We’re here!” But her voice was too feeble to carry far, and the light disappeared as the boat turned. “No. No! We’re here! Wait!” But the boat didn’t stop and she shared a look of panic with Jack.

“The whistle”, he whispered suddenly.

“What?”

“The whistle.” She followed his gaze. Clinging to a piece of wood was the dead body of the officer with the whistle he had blown earlier still in his mouth.

When she rolled off the board and into the water, she gasped at the coldness that pierced her body like a thousand knifes. Despite the life vest her wet clothes were trying to drag her down and she struggled for a moment, gasping in growing panic until her body remembered how to swim.

The whistle felt icy cold against her lips when she had finally reached it, but she blew it with all the breath she had left. The sound was loud and clear and cutting through the silence of the night. She blew it a couple of times, deeply inhaling the biting cold air in between, and then she could see it: The light. The boat was turning back around.

“They heard me” she said as soon as she had returned to Jack, the whistle hanging around her neck. “They’re coming.”

“Okay”, he said, barely audible. In the few moments she had been gone, he had grown even paler.

She took his hand, holding onto the board with the other. He barely seemed to notice. “Jack. Jack, look at me.”

He lifted his gaze, but his eyes seemed clouded, like he was very far away. The feeling of panic from earlier made a sudden and forceful return.

“Get up here.” She pulled at his arm, trying to pull him up the board, but his body was a dead weight.

“Can’t”, he gasped. “Can’t feel anything.”

“Yes, you can. Don’t you dare to give up now!” She shoved him against the shoulder in frustration and that seemed to wake him up some.

Finally she climbed back onto the board, and from this position she managed to drag him up. She lay down next to him and pulled him as close as she could to share what warmth their bodies had left, whispering: “They’re coming. Can you hear them?”

“I hear them”, he mumbled close to her ear.

And that was how they were finally found, clinging to each other on a piece of wood surrounded by the drifting bodies of the dead. And they were still in each other’s arms, huddled together under a big blanket on the lifeboat that had found them, when the sun finally rose to reveal the silhouette of the _Carpathia_ on the horizon, coming to the rescue under full steam.

It was the most beautiful sight they had ever seen.


End file.
